September 11, 2007
Make Your Timeline
abacus, Canon Digital Rebel XTi
This post is inspired by Mighty Girl and her awesome book.
My first decade (from age 3):
Age 3: Preschool. Had a friend who was a boy. One day I saw him head into the bathroom and sit on the toilet. I was totally confused. Why would he be sitting down on the toilet? Boys went potty standing up. I confronted him in the stall: "I thought you were a boy!" I exclaimed, feeling betrayed. He never spoke to me again after that.
Age 4: Was mesmerized by the beautiful bright orangey red coils on the electric stove. Decided I needed to touch them.. Had huge bandages on my hand for many months after.
Age 5: Wanted so badly to slide down the railings on our staircase at home but was too afraid.
Age 6: Tried to bend spoons with my mind.
Age 7: Used to play a game with my dad at the stoplights where we would guess when the light was going to turn green. "Okay... now!" ".... Now!" I could never figure out how he was so good at it and guessed right every time. I thought he must be psychic.
Age 8: Woke up in the middle of the night freezing cold. My bed was completely stripped. In the corner of my room in a perfect stack were my sheets, my blankets, my pillow and my teddy bear sitting on the top of the pile. I was still too small to have been able to do this myself with such perfection. After interrogating my family the next morning and them not knowing what I was talking about, I started to believe in ghosts.
Age 9: My best friend was mad at me and said I looked like a monkey. I was devastated, ran to the bathroom mirror, decided she was right and pulled my hair out of the ponytail it was in. I wouldn't wear my hair in a ponytail again for about 20 years.
Age 10: Read a poem in class that mentioned a moon the size of a fignernail. The teacher asked what this could mean. Everyone was stumped, but I got it instantly. "If you hold your thumb up to the sky, it is exactly the same size as the moon!" I remember thinking that there was a way I saw the world that felt unique and creative (maybe even like a poet or artist I imagined) and that I loved this part of myself.
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Posted by: qbkydc yigutpba at October 2, 2007 04:54 PMWhat fun!!
Age 3 The neighbor boy walked me out into the middle of the street and stuck my barefeet into the warm tar. A car was coming and I couldn't break free so I screamed my head off. That boy got the beating of a lifetime from his Mother.
Age 4 I ate a whole bottle of baby aspirin and didn't even get sick. I distinctly remember the taste of them when I get an Orange Creme Cooler from Olga's Kitchen now.
Age 5 First day of Kindergarten...stung by a Bee on my thigh while playing on the jungle gym. I hadn't even made it into the classroom yet and already I was wailing like a moron.
Age 6 My brother and I discovered my Dad's old 45's in the basement and played Steve Martins' King Tut over and over again. Later that night at the dinner table I mistakenly answered my Dad with "Well, excuuuuuuuuse meeeeee!" Apparently we were the only ones who thought it was funny.
Age 7 I began playing as many tricks on my little brother as possible. I'd hide under the bed before bedtime (while he was brushing his teeth)and grab his ankles just at the right time.
Age 8 Some of the kids in my class saw the movie Rocky and so began "Yo Adrienne." I'm 34 years old and still hear it to this day.
Age 9 I began my love affair with (Chachi)Scott Baio from Happy Days. I truely thought I was going to marry him and that Joanie (Erin Moran)needed to just go away. Who knew he'd have a stupid reality show called Scott Baio, 45 and single!!!
Age 10 I had to do a book report on Pocahontas and I wanted to dress up like her, but I didn't have a dress. So I came up with a not so brilliant idea of wearing a brown garbage bag. I cut out holes for the arms, fringe for the bottom, a braided belt with moccassins and braids in my hair. The only thing I forgot was a long sleeve shirt for underneath. The arm holes were too big and you could see my then very flat chest. Thankfully my family moved at the end of that year so I didn't have to face that class again!!
Thanks Andrea for taking us on so many fun journeys. BTW, my fiance ordered the Earth necklace for me (for Christmas)last week. I can't open it until Dec. 25th though. Great things are worth waiting for!!
Posted by: Adrienne at September 13, 2007 03:08 PMOh, you don't look anything like a monkey!
Posted by: maryam in cairo at September 13, 2007 12:44 PMthis was a wonderful idea. a new insight into the young you.
Age 6 made me giggle out loud. loved that.
Age 10 is definitely so you...
would love to hear more young superhero stories.
love love love.
xoxo
This was a delight to read :) I got told I looked like a monkey in primary school, lol! When I was newly born my sister, who was four, was brought in to see me in the hospital. She had just been to the movies, and on seeing me for the first time she gushed "oh Mum she's beautiful- she looks JUST like E.T.!" (thank God I don't anymore)
Anyway this is a gorgeous exercise, I'm going to try it sometime. It's lovely to think about the formative experiences your little one is going to have, and how idiosyncratic, magical and character-defining they can be.
Posted by: Laura at September 12, 2007 12:59 PMSo, funny (and beautiful) how kids view the world.
I always thought the "moon the size of a fingernail" was when the moon was just a sliver in the sky and it looked like the little end part of your nail that you clip off.
I swore that my stuffed animals talked and moved around when I left the room. Sometimes, I still believe it.
Posted by: Jillian at September 12, 2007 12:19 PMGreat timeline!! If you reread your timeline and think about Ben, don't you get the most eentsy bit worried? I know when I think about things I have done, such as climbing out my bedroom window onto the porch roof to win at hide and seek at age six...
At five, I decided I was quite big enough to get my own cereal, with milk and sugar while my parents were fast asleep. In order to accomplish this, I climbed up onto a chair and then stretched to reach the sugar bowl. In doing so, I put my palm flat onto the pilot light on the stove top. Lotsa bandages, yes.
Posted by: lk at September 12, 2007 11:33 AMGreat timeline!! If you reread your timeline and think about Ben, don't you get the most eentsy bit worried? I know when I think about things I have done, such as climbing out my bedroom window onto the porch roof to win at hide and seek at age six...
At five, I decided I was quite big enough to get my own cereal, with milk and sugar while my parents were fast asleep. In order to accomplish this, I climbed up onto a chair and then stretched to reach the sugar bowl. In doing so, I put my palm flat onto the pilot light on the stove top. Lotsa bandages, yes.
Posted by: lk at September 12, 2007 11:33 AMI loved this.
Great writing exercise and great detail.
You have this very captivating cadence to your writing and I love it.
I loved this! Age 8 gave me the chills.
Posted by: erika at September 12, 2007 10:28 AMYour age 10 memory's story is also in the children's book Many Moons, by James Thurber! Such a beautiful story.
Posted by: Janie at September 12, 2007 09:20 AMthis was sweet A. I love how honest you are.
Posted by: Jenn at September 11, 2007 06:27 PMAbsolutely love this photo!
Posted by: DonnaG at September 11, 2007 05:48 PMage 8 gave me goosebumps. i'm not kidding...
Posted by: claire at September 11, 2007 04:51 PMage 8 gave me goosebumps. i'm not kidding...
Posted by: Claire at September 11, 2007 04:50 PMyou have a wicked memory!
i love the moon fingernail. ahh.
so nice to see you & meet ben:)
xo,
mati
You have the best memories! I need to do this!
Posted by: ~moe~ at September 11, 2007 03:00 PMso beautiful!
Posted by: susan at September 11, 2007 02:37 PMnumber 10 is so great...
lucky to have such exact memories of such fun things.
:)
Brilliant... the only thing I really remember is when i used to gag on my mom's cream cheese sandwiches that she made me in Kindergarden. I think she must have been in a daze and forgotten that she put half the package in my sandwich. I wonder if this is the reason why I am now lactose intolerant. Too much cream cheese by the age of 5! That and the weird milkshakes my brother used to make me - filled with Ketchup, mustard, ice cream, peanut butter and root beer and milk... GAG!
Posted by: Andrea Daoust at September 11, 2007 11:39 AMi love age 10 timeline. this is why i adore you!!
Posted by: celisa at September 11, 2007 11:07 AM